Year 6

Welcome to Year 6!

Our topic for the spring term is 'Conflict, War and Peace'.

Visit to The Beacon Museum, Whitehaven

Years 5 and 6 visited The Beacon Museum, in Whitehaven, as part of our Conflict,War and Peace topic to find out what life was like for the people of Copeland during World War Two. They found out about rationing, air raids, gas masks, evacuation and propaganda. They also saw for themselves the cramped conditions inside a real Anderson air raid shelter, heard the air raid siren and handled a number of artefacts.

First Lego League

Well done Paddle Academy's Lego Team! They were overall winners at the regional competition on Wednesday and will now head to Bristol for the National Finals on Saturday 24th February.

A big thank you to Balfour Beatty for their sponsorshipand to our STEM ambassadors Caroline Waters and Rob Way.

Beyond the lines

Year 6 have been working hard to develop their descriptive writing.

Terrifying gunshots illuminated the sky as the smell of gas and smoke filled the air. My palms began to sweat, the soldiers ran around firing deadly bullets. As the Luftwaffe flew across the ominous, amber sky, my heart pounded like thunder. A single tear trickled down my check.

Summer

Hell rained down around us as my brother and I stumbled over the blood-soaked sand. Mammoth caltrops were littered across the beach, a vortex of bullets swirled around us, most hitting the soldiers gouging open wounds, but a few bursts peppered the ground at our feet. We crawled beneath a caltrop, crying till our eyes were dry.

Adrian

Hands shaking, the boys stood in the centre of the fight, their eyes darting everywhere, as soldiers shot over the hills trying to catch their enemy. The boys’ hearts started pounding faster and faster as the soldiers fell to the ground. In disbelief, they ran to find somewhere to hide.

Niamh B

Lego Mindstorms

Year 6 have been busy learning about algorithms using the Lego Mindstorms. The children built the robots and learned to program them to complete a series of tasks using both the computer software and the app on the ipad. The programming was completed by dragging and dropping icons into a line to form commands which were then sent via bluetooth to the Lego robot.

Children had to check their work, detect errors and refine their programs to enable the robots to complete their mission.

Reverse Advent Calendar

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Year 6 reverse advent calendar. Representatives from Barnardo's Children's Centre (Cockermouth) came to collect the gifts this week and were delighted with the variety of items that people had donated.

Darwin Rocks -Year 5 and 6 Performance

Our Year 5 and 6 children wowed a packed school hall with their singing, acting and dancing during two performances of ‘Darwin Rocks’. The play was based on the life of Charles Darwin and his scientific ideas, which were controversial in 1859, when he published his theory in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
It was a brilliant team effort with the whole production pulled together in two weeks. It was lovely to see the children grow in confidence, develop their acting skills and enjoy the opportunity to perform in front of their parents, peers and other guests.

A collection was taken at the end of each performance for Cancer Research UK. A total of £350.71 was raised.

Author Visit

Some of our Year 5 and 6 pupils meet author Cathy Cassidy at Cockermouth School on Wednesday 18 October 2017 . She talked about how she came up with her ideas and signed copies of her new book. The children enjoyed listening to her talking about her life as an author.

Meeting Cathy

'It takes guts!' Science Show

Year 6 visited Lakes College to watch a gross, squirm-inducing show all about the workings of the human digestive system. It followed the journey of food from your mouth, through the acid bath in your stomach, along metre after metre of pulsating guts, until it comes out the other end!

'The distinctiveness and effectiveness of Eaglesfield Paddle as a Church of England school is outstanding...RE makes an excellent contribution to pupils’ understanding of diversity, both within Christianity and between different faiths and cultures...the impact of the school’s Christian character on spiritual development is outstanding,' - Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS), October 2017